Mon, 20 May 2024 | ADMINISTRATION
A precision machining and fabrication firm based in Dumfries has fallen into liquidation and ceased trading after being hit by a range of headwinds. Kellwood Engineering Limited focused on machining and metal fabrication for many years, before more recently diversifying into lighting consultancy.
The company had been trading for close to forty years and was based at the Catherinefeld Industrial Estate. The firm has now ceased trading after facing difficulty in recruiting skilled personnel to a “sustainable level” as it sought to recover post-COVID-19. It had also been hit by cheaper competition from overseas.
Kellwood Engineering Director James Maitland has now appointed Wylie & Bisset’s Donald McKinnon as provisional liquidator. 27 jobs have been lost after the company ceased trading, with a single member of staff retained to assist the liquidator.
James Maitland commented: “The reduction of work available during COVID required us to cut our workforce and, since then, a shortage of skilled time-served engineers in the area has rendered it difficult to restore employee numbers to a sustainable level.”
Provisional liquidator Donald McKinnon added: “This is terribly sad to see the demise of another manufacturing business in Scotland with cheaper alternatives being found overseas. We are currently in discussions with a third party to take on part of the business and save some jobs.”
In its accounts for the year ending April 30 2022, Kellwood Engineering reported turnover of £2.2 million, up from £2.06 million a year earlier, but fell from a small pre-tax profit of £5,670 in 2021 to a pre-tax loss of £353,406.
In the report, directors stated that losses were “inevitable” in the post-COVID period, which saw low levels of work, the withdrawal of the furlough system and, significantly, “unease [...] amongst our staff”. This latter challenge was cited as leading to all five senior managers within the engineering department leaving the company, while two newly-hired managers also left within the year.
At the time, the company’s fixed assets were valued at £675,123 and current assets at slightly over £875,000, while net assets amounted to just under £185,000.
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